People who made a difference and they don't know it

[AndAPartridgeInABearTree]

I'll go first.

A dentist who must have guessed I was being abused by my then boyfriend and gave me very low cost treatments for his work. It was only years later I realised he must have been basically doing it at cost price because he knew there was no way I could live without the work but as a student had absolutely no spare money. His work genuinely made my life worth living again and 20+ years later it's still perfect. He will never know what a difference he made then and still to this day.

So tell me your stories of people who made a difference to you and they don't know it.

That’s wonderful of him partridge

Mine is tiny in comparison, and to be fair I did make a point of thanking her after (which she looked really surprised about) so maybe she knows a bit, but probably not how it changed things for me.

I was doing a course early last year called ACEs - adverse childhood experiences - for women who’d had difficult childhoods. One day I was having a difficult time physically and she noticed I was dizzy. I said not to worry, it happens sometimes and I just needed to sit on the floor for a bit so I moved from the chair onto the floor.

She sat on the floor and taught the next hour or so like that. Didn’t make a thing of it, or put me on the spot by asking, she just did it.

I honestly can’t describe how much that gesture changed things for me. I hate feeling needy or like I’m causing bother due to my issues, it’s more of a trigger for my MH symptoms than my actual “ACE” in fact. But what she did turned it round in my head, made me realise it’s ok to need help, to be vulnerable. That I’m not a burden.

Was absolutely gutted the course couldn’t finish due to covid, the whole experience was amazing.

@SingToTheSky that's a lovely story and that lady is definitely in the right job helping women with adverse childhood experiences. So empathetic.

Yeah :) she’s actually a therapist in her main job which didn’t surprise me. And she had similar health issues in the past so she really got it. But then I do think just having experienced the same doesn’t automatically make one as kind as she was that day. :)